MAJORITY of the poor in Western Visayas have access to safe drinking water.
Based on the database of Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), 55 percent or 139,807 households of the total 252,584 identified poor households have access to safe water sources.
The remaining 45 percent, or 112,777, draw water from unsafe sources.
The 2015 result of the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction or “Listahanan” of DSWD-6 was recently launched by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office VI in Iloilo City.
The unsafe water sources identified by DSWD assessment are dug well, spring river/stream, rain and peddlers.
In the region, the top five municipalities with the most number of poor households with unsafe water sources are Libacao in the province of Aklan and Jamindan, Dumalag, Tapaz and President Roxas in Capiz.
Also, the agency revealed that there are still poor households in the region that do not have access to electricity and sanitary toilet facilities.
A total of 66,346 or 26 percent of the 252,584 poor households have no electricity.
Among the municipalities in the region, Calinog in Iloilo province recorded the highest number of poor households without electricity with 2,464, next, Tapaz in Capiz with 2,407, followed by Concepcion with 2,227, Libacao in Aklan with 1,786 households, and Jamindan with 1,187.
Also, about 77,129 of the targeted poor households have still unsanitary toilet facilities, including 29,788 that use open pits; 4,681 that use other types like pail system while 42,660 have no toilet at all.
DSWD-6 Director Rebecca Geamala said in a press conference during the presentation of the 2015 Listahanan that she plans to present the result of the assessment in the next meeting of the Social Development Committee of the Regional Development Council 6./dswd6